TacWhiskers: Biomimetic optical tactile whiskered robots

TL;DR

This paper introduces the TacWhiskers, biomimetic optical tactile whisker arrays inspired by rodents, demonstrating their effectiveness in object localization tasks and their potential for affordable, customizable tactile robotic systems.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel optical tactile whisker array inspired by rodent vibrissae, with static and dynamic versions, and evaluates their performance in active object localization.

Findings

Dynamic TacWhisker array achieves millimeter-scale localization.

Static array shows poorer performance in contact-based tasks.

Self-generated motion signals can be effectively compensated.

Abstract

Here we propose and investigate a novel vibrissal tactile sensor - the TacWhisker array - based on modifying a 3D-printed optical cutaneous (fingertip) tactile sensor - the TacTip. Two versions are considered: a static TacWhisker array analogous to immotile tactile vibrissae (e.g. rodent microvibrissae) and a dynamic TacWhisker array analogous to motile tactile vibrissae (e.g. rodent macrovibrissae). Performance is assessed on an active object localization task. The whisking motion of the dynamic TacWhisker leads to millimetre-scale location perception, whereas perception with the static TacWhisker array is relatively poor when making dabbing contacts. The dynamic sensor output is dominated by a self-generated motion signal, which can be compensated by comparing to a reference signal. Overall, the TacWhisker arrays give a new class of tactile whiskered robots that benefit from being relatively inexpensive and customizable. Furthermore, the biomimetic basis for the TacWhiskers fits well with building an embodied model of the rodent sensory system for investigating animal perception. A video demonstrating this robot can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksS177ep6yY